vale of work hoard
Vale of York Hoard (buried around 927 AD).
Viking objects; found near Harrogate, Yorkshire
On the surface, everything is idyllic . . . imagine a broad green field in Yorkshire. In the distance rolling hills, woods and a light morning mist - it's the epitome of a peaceful, unchanging England. But scratch this surface - or more appropriately, wave a metal detector over it - and a very different England emerges, a land of violence and panic, not at all secure behind its defending sea, but terrifyingly vulnerable to invasion. And it was in a field like this,
1,100 years ago, that a frightened man buried a great collection of silver, jewellery and coins, that linked this part of England to what would then have seemed unimaginably distant parts of the world - to Russia, the Middle East and Asia. The man was a Viking, and this was his treasure. "Suddenly, a metal detector in a field in Harrogate uncovers this extraordinary treasure..."
(Michael Wood)
"I crouched down in the soil and you could see the edge of a few coins sticking out of the top of it..." (Andrew Whelan)
"There, packed in, are these hundreds of coins and these arm-rings, these pieces of silver."
(MW)
"... put it in a sandwich box, wrapped it all up, and took it home." (AW)
"You're right there with this material, that can take you back to that tremendous moment in
English history, when the kingdom of England was first created." (MW)
"... things you dream of, but you don't actually expect to happen." (AW)
This week we're sweeping across the vast expanse of Europe and Asia between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries. And once again we're not going to be focussed on the Mediterranean: we're dealing with two great arcs of trade - one that begins in Iraq and Afghanistan, rises north into Russia and ends here in Britain, and another in the south, spanning the Indian
Ocean from Indonesia to Africa. The week's objects range from today's precious Viking treasure from Yorkshire to a few
Viking objects; found near Harrogate, Yorkshire
On the surface, everything is idyllic . . . imagine a broad green field in Yorkshire. In the distance rolling hills, woods and a light morning mist - it's the epitome of a peaceful, unchanging England. But scratch this surface - or more appropriately, wave a metal detector over it - and a very different England emerges, a land of violence and panic, not at all secure behind its defending sea, but terrifyingly vulnerable to invasion. And it was in a field like this,
1,100 years ago, that a frightened man buried a great collection of silver, jewellery and coins, that linked this part of England to what would then have seemed unimaginably distant parts of the world - to Russia, the Middle East and Asia. The man was a Viking, and this was his treasure. "Suddenly, a metal detector in a field in Harrogate uncovers this extraordinary treasure..."
(Michael Wood)
"I crouched down in the soil and you could see the edge of a few coins sticking out of the top of it..." (Andrew Whelan)
"There, packed in, are these hundreds of coins and these arm-rings, these pieces of silver."
(MW)
"... put it in a sandwich box, wrapped it all up, and took it home." (AW)
"You're right there with this material, that can take you back to that tremendous moment in
English history, when the kingdom of England was first created." (MW)
"... things you dream of, but you don't actually expect to happen." (AW)
This week we're sweeping across the vast expanse of Europe and Asia between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries. And once again we're not going to be focussed on the Mediterranean: we're dealing with two great arcs of trade - one that begins in Iraq and Afghanistan, rises north into Russia and ends here in Britain, and another in the south, spanning the Indian
Ocean from Indonesia to Africa. The week's objects range from today's precious Viking treasure from Yorkshire to a few